The Sad Tale of Merope Gaunt
by Ms Kitty Black
Summary: The tale of Merope Gaunt told by Quibbler reporter Kitty Black. On the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts the storys of long forgotten wizards and witches are told. This is Merope Gaunt's story.


AN - So the muse is with me tonight and after a reader PM'd me, I realised I had no clue about the Gaunt family so I did some reading and this just popped up in my head. Its a small article piece set on the day of the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, the idea was that every year they do a piece on one of the people connected to the seven horcrux's that Voldemort used. As usual I don't own anything, but I wish I did. I hope you enjoy it xx

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It is with sadness on this the anniversary of the defeat of the Dark Lord Tom Riddle, I am compelled to give another one other side to his tale. The story of the young boy who grew up in an orphanage devoid of love of care is well known now however I find myself wondering about the decisions that set him on that path of destruction even before his birth, that there was in fact, in his past a choice that could have created a far different Tom Riddle to the one we know today. One that, though this is only speculation, would have been a far better man than the one we all knew. The tale of the woman behind Tom Riddle, Merope Gaunt, is shrouded in mystery however the little we do know is both appalling and tragic in equal measure. After a great amount of research, I have managed to piece together what I can of this young woman's tragic and short life.

I begin my tale of Merope Gaunt in early 1907, while it is unknown when, specifically, she was born it is believed that her mother passed soon after her birth though the circumstances are unknown. As has previously happened to even the strongest of pureblood families the culture of only marrying other purebloods limited the magics within the family decreasing the magic a child may have and increasing behavioural difficulties. This created a turbulent and often violent environment that the young girl grew up in. Her father Marvolo and Morfin were reported to have been both emotionally and physically abusive.

Though it is interesting to note that while both the father and brother believed her to be "disgusting little Squib", it was the opinion of famous wizard Albus Dumbledore that "magical abilities can be effected by their state of mind and powerful negative emotions endured on a chronic basis can interfere with or completely drain a person's powers" It is therefore ironic that the abuse she suffered at the hands of her family for lacking magical abilities most likely only exacerbated her difficulties with her low magical levels.

While the young girl suffered her families' negative opinions and violent outbursts this did not stop her from developing an almost obsessive attraction to a rich local muggle named Tom Riddle, the only son of Thomas and Mary Riddle, who by all accounts was told to very handsome young man. It must be said that at this time Tom was in the company of a woman named Cecilia, who often rode past the Gaunt home with young Tom. The infatuation was very much one sided as Tom considered her beneath him due to the Gaunts' poverty and mental instability.

It was this such belief that began the issues for Merope at approximately the age of 17 that her brother Morfin discovered the infatuation and informed their father of this. After a violent disagreement within the family home where Marvolo made his opinion on her infatuation bluntly his anger at her attentions being on those so far beneath her as "a filthy, dirt-veined Muggle?". This lead to a violent encounter outside the house where Morfin hexed Tom Riddle and exposed magic in front of muggles. This blatant disregard for wizarding law attracted the ire of the Ministry and after an assault on a Minstry official named Bob Ogden, head of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, both Morfin and Marvolo where sent to Azkaban.

It was at this point that life began to look up for the young Merope Gaunt, having both her abusers in Azkaban she began to develop a healthy magic level to the point where she successfully bewitched the object of her affection, Tom Riddle, using love potions and the like and only a few months after Marvolo and Morfin were sentenced the two were married and ran away to London and only months after that she became pregnant. As Albus Dumbledore famously said on the topic "You can imagine the gossip it caused when the squire's son ran off with the tramp's daughter."

It is this point where story's begin to conflict, it was the opinion of Mr Harry Potter based on the memories and story's he observed while finding a way to defeat the Dark Lord, that it had been Merope's hope that while she had begun the relationship using love potions, during their marriage he would also develop romantic feelings for her, because she loved him too much to keep him on the love potion. Alas it was not to be and as soon as the potions effects had worn off the young man, disgusted at the mere suggestion of staying with her or the unborn child, he immediately left both of them and returned to his home in Little Hangleton, leaving Merope destitute, never to make contact with either of them until his death, at the hand of the son he never knew.

What then passed were many difficult months for the 18-year-old girl as she struggled to survive without a means of income or the love of her life. This lead to a key event in the downfall of her own son. In desperation Merope sold her last precious item, Salazar Sytherin's very own locket for as little as 10 galleons to Borgin and Burkes. The same that would famously become a horcrux.

It was only months later that a heavily pregnant Merope stood on the orphanage steps that would later home her son Tom Riddle, somehow knowing that she wouldn't survive. It was 19-year-old Merope Gaunt's dying wish that her son should be named after his father, and so Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr was born.

The death of this young woman is unknown however it is the belief of those who were at the orphanage when Merope came through that having given her son to the orphanage and having lost the love of her life she simply gave up living, and when attack on the street late at night did nothing to defend herself, despite her magic.

It is interesting that the downfall of both Merope and her son Tom were hinged on love. While it may be said that Tom's unconscious mind had been effected by the manipulations of love that lead to his creations, I am of the belief that if only Merope had stayed strong for her son and at least been involved in his life that she may have tapered of some of the more extreme actions and opinions this young man would develop.

Then again maybe some wounds are just too deep to survive. Maybe some people are just meant to be evil, and the decisions they may only alter the degree to which they are. However, while it is possible Harry Potter told me something during the interview that he was told by the late Sirius Black that has stuck with me, "We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are."

Somehow now I have written all this I find myself wondering the true purpose of it all. Would the mother figure for a young Tom Riddle have been enough to avoid such a long and violent war? Maybe someone else would have taken his place. Having considered all this, I now find that maybe it's irrelevant. Though I feel that this young woman's tale needed to be told. And now I have done so I must thank you for reading this, and wish you all good health and fortune in all your magical endeavours.

Sincerely

MsKittyBlack

Reporter for the Quibbler.


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